1. Field
The presently disclosed embodiment belongs to the field of composites including a succession of superposed plies forming the thickness of a composite part.
More particularly, the presently disclosed embodiment relates to a process for producing a composite part formed by a stack of plies laid on a matrix or a mold giving a shape to the part.
More particularly, the presently disclosed embodiment provides a solution to the laying of the first ply deposited on the mold.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
When a composite part including resin-impregnated fibers is produced on a mold, it must be taken into consideration that the part will have to be demolded, i.e. separated from the mold, when all the desired plies have been laid and consolidated by known processes.
In the case of thermoplastic composites, i.e. composites the resin impregnating the fibers of which is hard at the temperature of use and softens when temperature is increased to a sufficient thermoplastic forming value, each laid ply adheres to the preceding ply on which it is deposited. To maintain the first ply on the mold, in the absence of a tack of the resin that will allow the ply to adhere to the surface of the mold, it is known to clamp the first ply deposited on a mold. Such a solution is effective when the shape of the mold is convex but does not make it possible to guarantee, in the case of a mold of concave shape, that the first ply will perfectly follow the shape of the mold.
As a result, thermoplastic composite parts of complex shapes produced on a mold including, even if only locally, concave shapes are tricky to produce and there are no solutions that are industrially satisfactory under such conditions.